View full sizeBethel Baptist Church holds services at Fair Park Arena In Birmingham, Ala., Sunday, May 1, 2011 after the Pratt City church was destroyed in Wednesday's tornado. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Pastor Tommy Lewis greet church members before the service. (Birmingham News Photo /Jeff Roberts

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Guest preacher Jesse Jackson, after touring storm-battered Pratt City, told a displaced congregation that had its building destroyed by tornado to keep hope and God would provide.

"A new house, a new job, a new church, a new Alabama," Jackson said this morning. "There is hope. There is power."

The 2,000-member congregation of Bethel Baptist Church of Pratt City, which lost its sanctuary in Wednesday's tornado, gathered this morning at Fair Park Arena for its Sunday service. The church had met there on Easter Sunday but didn't expect to be back the next weekend.

"We may have lost a building, but we still have a God," said Minister of Music Byron Thomas as he led the congregation in song.

Members hugged, shared stories of loss and thanked God for all those who stepped forward to help in the aftermath of the tornado.

Birmingham Police Sgt. L. Roby, whose Pratt City home near Bethel church was destroyed, hugged people as she arrived at the service. "I'm looking for my church," she said. "I ain't got no house. I got my life. I'm all right. My children are accounted for. I've got my church."

Roby said she rode out the storm in her basement. "Ten thousand horses came over my house and they were chasing a freight train," she said. "All I could do was scream, 'Jesus, keep us wrapped in your blood.'"

The tornado also brought out some people who are not regular churchgoers.

Melinda Barnwell, who moved to Pleasant Grove in February, said she had a new perspective on life after she, her four children and her fiance survived the storm as the house was blown down on top of them.

"Our lives are spared," Barnwell said. "It was more devastating than I could have imagined. I can't believe we survived."

Four people who lived on their block died and carnage from the entire neighborhood spilled up to their door, she said. "There was a body in our back yard," Barnwell said. "The man lived three blocks away. The lot where his house was, there wasn't even debris. There's nothing."

They called 911 and talked to overwhelmed law enforcement officers about the body. "I didn't want my kids to have to see it," Barnwell said. "We laid a blanket over him. They couldn't come get the body until the next day."

The family went next door and helped rescue an 87-year-old woman with a broken hip.

They have been overwhelmed by kindness. "Sometimes a smile, a hug and a warm word makes you feel better," she said. "Everyone in the community came together." At the same time, she has been shocked by those who have come into the neighborhood looting.

The tornado convinced her to bring her family to church this morning. "We're not regular churchgoers," she said. "We needed our eyes opened."

Family members have been urging her to attend church. "I don't know if they'll have to call us again on Sunday mornings," she said. "Our eyes are opened."

Jackson, who had preached at Bethel Baptist Church many times over the years because of his friendship with Pastor T.L. Lewis, said he toured Pratt City on Saturday and saw the rubble of the church left by the tornado. "It has turned churches and homes into broken match sticks," he said after the service, on his way to tour damage in Tuscaloosa. "Many were killed, but many more survived because they had heard the warnings. The flip side of this crisis is opportunity. We derive beauty from the ashes. Our faith will not refrain from the face of tragedy."

Church member Nebrazy Adams said Christians can take away a renewed faith.

"When there's a tragedy, we help people," she said. "But God calls us to do this anyway. We really should be helping people all the time."